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The nominations for the 90th Annual Academy Awards were released last week and met with mixed reactions. Some were ecstatic, others were disappointed, but how many were surprised? The Academy has been attempting to present itself in a new light in the years since a slew of all-white nominees was presented in the Best Actor category at the 2015 ceremony. Despite the #OscarsSoWhite movement that followed, the same thing happened the next year, sending organizers into a furor that found them completely revamping the membership list in the hopes of getting more diversified nominations. Although the 89th ceremony saw some changes in terms of the voting body, it seemed more like a desperate attempt to show change rather than a legitimate attempt to actually change. Now, in the age of #MeToo, this year’s nominees also fell shy of expectations. Continue reading →

Audiences received a horrifying treat this week at the 2017 MTV Movie & TV Awards. The latest trailer for director Andres Muschietti’s new adaptation of author Stephen King’s infamous fright novel, It premiered at the ceremony. Taking place in the small town of Derry, Maine, It begins when several local children begin disappearing, leaving only gruesome evidence behind. As the townspeople continue to be terrorized by the strange occurrences, a group of local kids decide to join forces after realizing the culprit of the events is a demonic, evil clown called Pennywise. Fearing for their lives (and those of the entire town), they vow to hunt down and kill the nameless demon. Continue reading →

Sundance 2017 proved a huge success yet again. This year a number of impressive entries from a broad array of categories caught our attention, including Wind River, The Discovery, I Am Not Your Negro, Mudbound, and the outlandish comedy Wilson with Woody Harrelson and Laura Dern. Now that the celebration is over and everyone in Hollywood is looking forward to the Oscars at the end of the month, here are a few more mentionable entries you should look for in theaters in the coming months. Continue reading →

Last year’s Annual Academy Awards ceremony was less than glamorous. In fact, it was downright uncomfortable. You might remember Chris Rock being asked to host the #OscarsSoWhite last January, and although he made some good points and was able to put a good spin on it, the show was ultimately kind of a bust. The final announcement of Leonardo DiCaprio winning the Best Actor Oscar was just one more punch to the face of film-lovers before the ceremony was ended. Don’t get me wrong, Leonardo DiCaprio is definitely worthy of an Oscar, but like Denzel Washington and Al Pacino before him, he was given the award for the wrong role, and at a point way too far into his career. But hey, that’s Hollywood for you. Continue reading →

Two independent films are seeing a limited theatrical release this weekend. The first is a comedy from Oscar-winning director Taylor Hackford (An Officer and a Gentlemen, Ray) titled The Comedian. Robert De Niro stars as an aging insult comic who must learn to adapt his art for the modern world of technology, YouTube, and social media. De Niro is backed by an outstanding supporting cast including Leslie Mann (Knocked Up, The 40-Year-Old Virgin), Danny DeVito (Hoffa, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia), Billy Crystal (When Harry Met Sally, Analyze This), Harvey Keitel (Mean Streets, Reservoir Dogs), Edie Falco (The Sopranos, Nurse Jackie), and Patti Lupone (Witness, City by the Sea). Despite having an impressive cast and director, the film has received incredibly harsh reviews from critics, who complain the potential of the cast and director are overshadowed by asinine, old-school comedy. Judging from the trailer, however, it looks like an entirely crowd-pleasing, worthy-of-the-times comedy, so don’t leave it off of your list just because of a few critics with no sense of humor! The Comedian is expected to see an expanded release in early February, so look for it in theaters for a good Valentines date! Continue reading →

The upcoming 69th Annual Writers Guild of America Awards is scheduled to air this February 19th, 2017. The awards recognize the best writers from 2016 in the categories of film, television, radio, and video-game writing. This year’s event will be hosted at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Once again, La La Land, Manchester by the Sea, and Moonlight are among the top contenders for the Original Screenplay Award. Denzel Washington‘s Fences is up for Best Adapted Screenplay, along with Hidden Figures and Arrival. Other highlights in television and radio nominees include Game of Thrones, Strange Things, Westworld, Chernobyl: 30 Years Later, and Muhammed Ali: A Tribute to Greatness. The list of film nominees is provided below. Follow the link to see the full list of Writers Guild nominees for 2017. Continue reading →

Last night the 74th annual Golden Globe Awards were held at the Beverly Hilton. Jimmy Falon hosted the event which was filled with surprises, including a politically-driven speech from Meryl Streep. But perhaps the most impressive part of the evening was the new musical from Whiplash director Damien Chazelle, La La Land, which set a new record with 7 Golden Globe awards, including Best Picture – Musical or Comedy. Ryan Gosling (Blue Valentine, The Big Short) and Emma Stone (The Help, Birdman) both took home the Globe for Best Actor/Actress in a Musical or Comedy, and Chazelle won the Globe for Best Director. La La Land also won for Best Screenplay, Best Original Score, and Best Original Song. Congratulations to all the winners! The full list of winners is provided below. Continue reading →

This week will see a whole collection of independent limited releases happening across the country. First on the list is The Big Short from director Adam McKay (Anchorman, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby), starring Christian Bale (The Dark Knight, American Hustle), Steve Carell (The Office, Seeking A Friend for the End of the World), Ryan Gosling (Drive, The Place Beyond the Pines), and Brad Pitt (Babel, By The Sea). The film, based on the novel by Michael Lewis, follows four friends who predicted the housing market collapse in the mid 2000s and bet against the odds with the national banks, becoming nearly instant millionaires. The film was last seen at the AFI Film Festival in LA earlier this year, and a further nationwide expansion is still expected for 2016. Continue reading →

In anticipation of the upcoming NWA biopic, Straight Outta Compton, original member Dr. Dre will be releasing his first studio album since 1999’s iconic album 2001. The new album is called Compton: A Soundtrack by Dr. Dre and will be Dre’s third studio release. Fans have been waiting for Dre’s next studio release ever since he announced a new album titled Detox would be forthcoming in 2002. Since then, however, the album’s release has been put on hold several times, owing to various outside projects, including developing his record label Aftermath Entertainment with artists like Eminem and 50 Cent, and his Beats by Dre series. However rumors persisted throughout the last decade about the album’s existence, fueled by artists like Snoop Dogg who claimed to have heard the project in its entirety. Then in 2010, Dre released the single ‘Kush’, and then another single the next year with Eminem titled ‘I Need A Doctor’, which the two performed together at the 2011 Grammy Awards. Then back in July, Dre announced that the original Detox conception had been scrapped for a new project inspired by the new movie Straight Outta Compton that would be released in August, and tomorrow that album will finally be available for fans! Dre has also announced that the artist royalties from the new project will be donated to the city of Compton to fund an art center for upcoming and aspiring artists in the area. So fans, rejoice! and check out the new album on Apple Music today. Straight Outta Compton opens in theaters August 14th.

THR recently reported that Matt Damon is reuniting with director Kenneth Lonergan for his next project titled Manchester By The Sea. The film follows a lazy, unmotivated plumber from Boston, who returns home following the death of his brother, only to find the responsibility of raising his 16-year-old nephew has fallen to him while he deals with another tragedy from his past that comes to the surface. Lonergan, who received Oscar recognition for his screenplay for You Can Count On Me (2000), has worked with Damon before, but this may be the first time their work will be released to a larger audience and get some legitimate recognition. Their last project, Margaret, was shown at several film festivals in 2005, but after being shelved received a limited-release in 2011 and has since been pretty much forgotten. Lonergan is also the writer behind such films as Analyze This (1999), The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (2000), and Gangs of New York (2002), but this will be his first major film project since Margaret in 2005. Damon was last seen in The Monuments Men earlier this year, and will make a small appearance in Christopher Nolan‘s upcoming space drama Interstellar before beginning filming on The Martian with director Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Prometheus) for November 2015. We’ll watch for more news on the Manchester project.